New head of German railway announces complete restructuring

The new head of Deutsche Bahn (DB), Evelyn Palla, plans to completely restructure the company and significantly improve the quality of the state-run rail operator.

“We are turning the company upside down: I am aiming for a complete fresh start,” Evelyn Palla told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

“For this, we need to do everything differently than before.”

Drastic cuts at the company headquarters

“I am reviewing every job for its added value to our customers. The administration must serve the railway workers,” she said.

Many decisions, according to Palla, will no longer be made at headquarters – the Bahn Tower in Berlin.

“I am making the people on the ground the decision-makers,” she said. “They are the backbone of our company. They, too, deserve a fresh start.”

Less bureaucracy

Palla also announced changes at the executive level.

“My goal is less bureaucracy at Deutsche Bahn and significantly more room for doers,” she said. “Decisions will in future be made where the responsibility lies, not three floors higher.”

Dirty trains, grimy stations, and closed or defective on-board bistros, she said, should no longer exist in the future. For rail customers, there will be a digital “construction site tracker” to better plan their journeys.

The German Cabinet advanced several key policies, extending tax exemptions for electric vehicles and working pensioners while approving a savings package to avoid a rise in social security contributions.

The measures – which all require parliamentary approval – are part of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s effort to revive the sluggish German economy after two consecutive years of recession.

New electric cars are to be exempt from motor vehicle tax until 2035, five years longer than previously.

“We need to set the right incentives now so that we can get many more electric cars on the road in the coming years,” said Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil in a statement.

The tax exemption is meant to assist consumers in switching to electric models and to support Germany’s crucial carmaking sector.